Mercedes Benz has entered the global electric vehicle competition in earnest. It is planning to spend 40 billion euros to convert all models of electric vehicles by 2030 and produce its own electric vehicle batteries.
According to major foreign media such as Bloomberg News and the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on the 22nd (local time), Benz announced plans to develop three platforms exclusively for electric vehicles and produce batteries by 2025. Its goal is to build eight plants around the world with partners from Europe and Asia, and secure production capacity of 200GWh through this.
For this purpose, a total of 40 billion euros will be invested from 2022 to 2030. Bloomberg reported that 40 billion euros is the largest amount of electric vehicle investment budget by major automakers, after Volkswagen (73 billion euros).
The development of batteries itself is interpreted as a move that follows competitors such as Volkswagen in Germany and General Motors in the U.S. However, it did not specifically mention partners who will cooperate to produce their own battery cells. Benz is receiving electric vehicle batteries from CATL, China’s No. 1 battery company, LG Energy Solution, and SK Innovation.
Earlier this year, Benz had been focusing on internalizing its electric vehicle production technology by privately acquiring British-based electric vehicle motor technology startup Yasa and partnering with Silanano Technologies, a battery-based startup in Silicon Valley co-founded by former Tesla engineers.
Read now: Chinese Aggression on Technology Companies May Benefit India
